Marcus Samuelsson on Harvest Home, Changing Harlem

Despite Eddie Huang's take on the gentrification of Harlem, Marcus Samuelsson seems to still be working on changing up the neighborhood.

Next Tuesday, Samuelsson and Nils Norén are hosting "Savor the Season Uptown," rounding up restaurants north of 110th Street in New York to draw crowds north of Central Park on Sept. 18.

"People say that Harlem is having a Renaissance... that Harlem is burning. I want them to know it's always been hot and it's always been a place that is rich in culture, history, art, food, and fire," Samuelsson told us in an email.

Of course, the point of this event is to bring people, and farmers markets, uptown. Proceeds from Savor the Season Uptown will go toward Harvest Home, a nonprofit focused on increasing access to fresh produce in low-income neighborhoods.

"Harlem is just one example of if you build it, they will come," Samuelsson wrote. "Before there was a farmers' market here, people had to rely on fruits and vegetables that were beyond their peak of freshness — who would want to eat a rotting apple? But now the farmers markets are alive and well, with DJ's playing music and fitness folk getting the crowd to get up and do Zumba."